Artist Rostan Tavasiev depicted sculptures that are trillions of kilometers in size

Monuments from the stars

From time immemorial, people have been drawn to the stars, writing poems in their honor, dreaming of space exploration. Russian cosmism, as a philosophical doctrine and a trend in art, reached incredible heights in the 20th century, expressed, for example, in the Suprematist constructions of Malevich or the kinetic objects of Vyacheslav Koleichuk. The artist Rostan Tavasiev went further in the 21st century, presenting the concept of designing planetary nebulae. That is, giant sculptures in space that can be modeled on the site of stars that died for natural reasons. He presented his art objects in the form of a sleeping hare, fireworks and dizziness, designed in collaboration with scientists, at the exhibition From Drawing to Stars.

The exhibition at the Ekaterina Foundation occupies three halls – each of them presents projects of the same monuments, but in different formats. To his dream of sculptures, the size of which can reach more than thirty trillion (!) kilometers, Rostan Tavasiev applies not only an artistic, but also a scientific approach. Therefore, in the first hall, the viewer sees simple sketches of incredible sculptures. The star system for which the art object was designed is indicated next to each. For example, the creation of the Sleeping Hare nebula is conceived for the star system HD 6272. From the Earth, a graceful eared one can be observed among the stars of the Northern sky in December-January. And here is a romantic project for the constellation Giraffe (star system HD 23089) called “One heart for two.” This sculptural nebula in Russia can be observed all year round. The art object “Vertigo” the artist intends to place in the constellation Triangulum (star system HD 14969) – a spiral nebula can be admired from the Russian expanses in November.

In total, there are six such projects of man-made nebulae. In the first hall, along with sketches, a map of the starry sky is exhibited, on which art objects are applied. In the second hall, the same projects of nebulae are shown in negative, as is customary among astronomers – here the drawings are already drawn in white on black, and most importantly, they are animated. On the cosmic black walls, the viewer can see giant art objects in motion. The third hall is picturesque. Here, all the walls are covered with multi-colored stars, and paintings hang against this background – future space sculptures are depicted on black canvases with acrylics. Here you feel like an astronaut who finds himself in an endless universe and watching its incredible starry beauty.

All projects of sculptures-nebulae Rostan Tavasiev comes up with the assistance of scientists – with the expectation that someday these ideas can be brought to life. Therefore, among the projects there are no squares or even disks – from the point of view of cosmic laws, such forms are simply impossible. Especially for the exhibition, the artist published an almanac, which contains articles by experts on the formation of nebulae, the nature of asteroids and stars. However, the question of how to technically implement the idea of ​​man-made creation of nebulae remains open.

– Stars like our sun – when they grow old, they begin to expand, it turns out a kind of bubble that bursts and turns into a nebula of some form, – says Rostand. “It remains to come up with a technology for influencing a star at the moment of transformation into a nebula so that it takes a certain shape. So far, there is no such mechanism, and it may take thousands of years to come up with one. But any technology is preceded by an idea. My task is to show that this is possible. You can design sculptures not only in the city, but also such star sculptures. The tricks are the same.

– What about the Sun? Thought about a sculpture that could be formed in the place of our star?

The sun is our common home. It is not good if a monument to all mankind is invented by one person, it should be a collective decision.

Published in the newspaper “Moskovsky Komsomolets” No. 28982 dated March 3, 2023

Newspaper headline:
The artist presented the monuments to the stars